


A Story You've Heard Before

by SeafoamTaide



Category: The Bifrost Incident - The Mechanisms (Album), The Magnus Archives (Podcast), The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: BUT this fic follows the plot of the other one without recounting, Fluff, I'm not good at recognizing that, Teen for Swears by the way, aka jonathan sims, also this fic is an au of another fic so, and then when they do they retire to earth and get a fake name, if there's anything I should tag please tell me, pretty much just fluff, so probably go read that one first anyways, the basis is lyf joins the mechanisms until they all die
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 05:56:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26468320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeafoamTaide/pseuds/SeafoamTaide
Summary: Lyfrassir Edda is Jonathan Sims is the Archivist, and that's all fine until they realize that the Mechanisms have definitely played on this planet before. But that's fine too until they have to tell their assistants what's actually up with them, and it's all a little ridiculous.Inspired by/Au snippet of 'Lyfrassir Edda, The Archivist' by AsteriskEmily
Comments: 8
Kudos: 178
Collections: Mechanisms and Magnus Crossovers that maintain the integrity of mechanisms lore





	A Story You've Heard Before

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Lyfrassir Edda, The Archivist](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23211169) by [AsteriskEmily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsteriskEmily/pseuds/AsteriskEmily). 



> This is probably ooc and gross but I had fun writing it so! I hope someone has fun reading it!
> 
> If there are any errors please feel free to correct me I would rather prefer to fix typos than leave them.

Jon had first heard it sometime in the 3rd week of working as the Head Archivist. They’d been passing through the assistant’s workroom and heard something that stopped them dead straight in their tracks. It was the Mech’s music. Nothing new to them, really, they listened to it all the time, but this wasn’t from them. 

They looked around and saw Martin nodding his head as he filled out some forms, phone laid out, playing quietly. Jon must have been staring too long because Martin glanced up nervously and visibly startled when he spotted them watching. He quickly paused the song, Pump Shanty, and cautiously started:

“Ah, I’m, I’m so sorry about the music, I hope I wasn’t, bothering you? I just- My headphones broke and I,” He took a breath and began again “I’m sorry about that. I’ll keep it off for now.”

Jon broke their silence quickly to assure him, “No, no, it’s alright. It was just,” They paused, probably longer than necessary, “Familiar.”

They retreated to their office to listen to their own music. They’d forgotten that the Mech’s had probably performed here. Did the people here, unaware of the larger galactic network, know about their interplanetary status? They weren’t exactly subtle about it. Jon would have to look that up later.

**

Martin was listening to the Bifrost Incident. Jon could hear it through the door. A week or so after they’d first seen Martin playing it they’d approached him and told him that if he wants, he can play the music out loud, with the reasoning that Jon enjoyed it as well. Of course, they told Martin to discuss it with the other assistants, too. No need to be rude. 

But now Martin was listening to the Bifrost Incident, and Jon was having a bit of a time. Sure, they were glad the Mechs had ended up making an album of the events, but that didn’t mean they always enjoyed listening. There was no way they could work right now. They couldn’t go out and ask Martin to stop playing it right after they’d given permission to listen, and they were pretty sure Tim and Sasha were enjoying the band now too.

Plus, Jon was being a little panicky. Probably best to hide their appearance for now. Even with their thousands of years dealing with and learning to control vague eldritch abilities, panic often brought out a little bit of rogue strangeness.

They sat back in their seat and tried to focus on the voices in the song, not the words being sung.

**

With their assistants wanting answers, they knew they had to say something. Revealing they were an alien was, well, hard to address, obviously. Especially with the Mech’s music playing all the time in the office. They probably wouldn’t make any direct connections to that right away anyways, unless-

Sasha’s first question was what planet they were from. 

Jon weighed their options. They’d asked for questions, so they really should answer. Hesitating or refusing would bring suspicion. But also, telling them would make everything about them abruptly very, very clear. 

All 3 of them stared expectantly at them. Oh, they’d paused too long.

“Ah… Midgard, in the Yggdrasil system?”

Martin’s jaw immediately dropped and Jon braced themself for questions. The other two didn’t seem to catch on as fast, probably just caught up on how it aligns with earth’s ‘Norse mythology’. They’d never been as into the albums as Martin.

Sasha frowned, thinking, before saying, “Like Thor?” as Martin continued staring at them.

He finally spoke, saying, “You’re joking. This is a joke.” Tim and Sasha looked at him questioningly as he continued, “No, no, this is- you’re just pulling from the album! Tell the truth, Jon.”

The other two caught on and Tim glared at them. This was awful. They coughed before starting, hesitantly, “The album was pulling from me?” Oh wow. That tone was not helpful. They definitely weren’t following. “It’s, um, I am telling the truth.”

Sasha seemed thoughtful, Martin’s furious stance had slackened into shock again, and Tim refused to stop glaring. They had literally no idea what anyone was thinking. This was awful.

Martin was the one who took the lead again. “Are the Mechanisms real?” he questioned.

“Well they’ve always been real, just, less of an act than they presented as, I guess. I don’t know, I wasn’t there when they were traveling in this system. I joined later,” And oh, that might have been a bit too much. Jon internally died a little.

That got them to react, all half-shouting “What??”. Martin collapsed onto the breakroom chair while Sasha started pacing. Tim just stared once more, less heat behind it.

He pointed at them as he said, “Jon. Are you saying you’re Inspector Lyf?”

They fidgeted a little and nodded. Everyone continued to stare at them. Martin rubbed his face in some sort of frustration.

“What the actual fuck, Jon.”

**

Jon- Lyf- Had retreated back to their office quickly after that while everyone… processed. The day had ended quietly as everyone went home. It was some unspoken agreement that they’d be actually talking more tomorrow.

Lyf arrived as early as they could the next day, hoping to maybe get a little bit of work before the others showed up. They spent 30 minutes alone, listening to some of the softer Mechs music in the quiet of the morning. Halfway through Lost in the Cosmos, there was a knock at their door. It was only 6 am.

They gave a quick “come in!” and Martin entered nervously.

“We’re uh, everyone’s here now if you wanted to come to the breakroom?” he offered.

Lyf got up without saying anything, apprehensive but keeping a tight clamp on it. No reason to worry.

Sasha and Tim were sitting on the couch, Time slouched upright and Sasha half laying down, leaning on his shoulder. They both looked up when the two entered. Sasha smiled and Tim made a valiant attempt to wave the hand trapped by Sasha, gave up, and used the one holding his phone instead. 

Lyf brought a wood chair over from across the room and Martin settled into the armchair next to the couch. They also waved a hand, once they were sat, then said plainly, “Hello.”

Tim playfully knocked Sasha’s weight off with a shove before gesturing with both hands as he declared, “So. Aliens are real, the Mechanisms are actually immortal space pirates, and you escaped becoming,” he falters for a moment as Sasha comes crashing back down onto his body fully limp, and lets out a small oof as he continues, “part of an unknowable cosmic horror?”

Lyf nods a bit at this. “Basically?” they add, not wanting to lie but really not wanting to go into what exactly happened with the Bifrost situation. At least not right away.

Sasha raises her hand and then immediately asks, “So how accurate is the album?” without waiting to be called on.

“Pretty much verbatim, I guess. That report was… it got, stuff went a bit weird and hazy once the black box was fixed. Most of what I said is in those songs though. I think they edited some of it to be more lyrical? The earlier stuff. I’m not that sure, it’s been a very long time since I originally recorded it. Was always told I got a bit dramatic with it, though,” they detailed.

“This is crazy,” Martin muttered from his chair. Everyone turned to look at him and he turned red before stammering out, “not i-in a bad way I just! You don’t? Expect to hear about this, sort of thing? Even with all the weird supernatural stuff and… worms… it’s just. A lot.”

Lyf nodded reassuringly before waiting for the next question. Martin ended up speaking again, asking, “So what does this have to do with healing really fast? Is that like… an alien thing?”

They gave a quick “no,” before stopping and considering if they really wanted to talk about all that. It was… a lot, and they were just getting into the alien part, and they really didn’t want anyone to freak out about it? The whole rainbow madness abilities thing was definitely weird for regular people. Plus the immortal thing.

Tim spoke up and startled them out of their thoughts. “No what?” They realized once again they’d got too wrapped up in their head. And the assistants definitely caught the open ending on that no.

They went vague for safety. “Uh, ‘escaped’ is a very strong word, that might not apply to my situation entirely. Depending on who you ask.” Lyf looked aside in embarrassment at how much of a garbage fire that entire sentence was. They fiddled with the edges of the sweater they’d worn today.

“And what does that mean?” Tim prodded further, sounding patient but maybe- yes, there was definitely a lot of concern under that.

Lyf faltered. “Uh,” they weren’t sure how to explain it gracefully. Or at all. “Uh, you asked earlier if I escaped becoming part of an unreachable cosmic horror, I think? Maybe not those words. I did, but kind of not really, sort of.”

No one really knew how to respond to that apparently. Silence reigned as the 3 tried to understand the implications. Looking at their faces, Lyf wished for probably the 100th time horrible eldritch rainbow powers included reading minds. Martin was plainly concerned, Sasha’s brow was scrunched in what could have been concentration, or maybe thoughtfulness? Tim looked confused but worried. Urgh.

Martin pushed, this time, with a soft “That’s… really not, the most helpful explanation, Jon. We don’t know what you’re talking about,” and laughs, small and nervous, in a way that says that maybe he does, just a little.

“Okay. Sorry. It’s just hard to summarize without sounding, well, kind of fucked, I guess,” they begin, “The short answer is I have freaky rainbow powers? I guess. And uh, that also comes with, being immortal. Too,” they laughed as well, at the awkward tension in the air, “I haven’t had to explain this for a very long time, now.”

At some point they’d turned their face down again, so they risked looking back up. Everyone’s eyes were wide. Sasha had migrated to resting her elbow on Tim’s shoulder instead of laying, and Tim was buckled a little under the weight, leaning on the armrest. Martin had pulled his legs up into the chair a little. Tim spoke first, sounding surprisingly calm, “Huh. That is kind of fucked.”

Everyone chuckled a little at that. Sasha swung her other arm around Tim and hung off his neck as she asked, “Can we see it? Can you do something?” Tim gripped the couch to avoid falling over under the pressure.

Lyf huffed a little. “I guess? I don’t- What should I do?”

“Something? I don’t know what you can do!” Sasha flaps a hand in the air and smacks Tim in the cheek.

“Well I don’t know what to do either, I don’t really- I can’t come up with something off the top of my head right now,” They stammer a bit, flustered.

Martin unfolds a bit as he says “can’t you just do something simple?”

The look around the room for something inconsequential to fuck up with outer god magicks as Tim starts wrestling Sasha off in retaliation for being smacked. They grab an empty mug off the table and everyone watches as it turns rainbow and melts like chocolate onto the rug.

Sasha slips from her hold on Tim in surprise and falls halfway on the ground and halfway on Tim’s lap as Martin exclaims: “did you have to use my mug???”

Lyf waves their arms in a flustered way and tries to justify “I panicked! Do you see anything convenient to utterly wreck around here?” while the rainbow mess slowly evaporated into flecks of rainbow snow that fell to the ceiling as though it were the ground.

Sasha falls the rest of the way to the floor, legs swinging with a thump, then sits on her knees on the floor while Tim watches the flakes dissapear into the cracks. It is silent for a moment before Sasha begins to giggle, and soon everyone is laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

Sasha gathers herself up and plops back on the couch as the noise dies down, and Lyf relaxes from the tense position they hadn’t realized they were holding. Martin starts to speak, pauses, and then opens his mouth only to be startled as Sasha makes an offended noise. Tim had fallen loose into her lap, this time, and was akin to a sack of rocks. She attempted to re-position to no avail, and Lyf laughs again despite themself. As the questioning continued, easier this time, they felt happy to have gotten a chance to be honest with their assistants. Maybe things were going to be fine.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're confused, please go read the fic listed in the inspired by place up there ^^^  
> If you're not confused but haven't read that fic, go read it too, it's pretty good.
> 
> Can you tell how much fun I had writing Tim and Sasha in that last bit?


End file.
